Kisses Can Lie
by lovablegeek
Summary: [Feeling Electric] Gabriel's lastminute birthday present to his little sister. NatalieGabriel [One shot]


Natalie didn't bother flipping on the lights as she stepped into her bedroom, ready to just collapse into her bed. Hell of a way to spend her sixteenth birthday, making sure her father went to see his fucking shrink-- Natalie never had warmed up to that man, despite having known him for almost a year now-- trying to make sure that he ate, slept... Functioning like a human being was a little too much to ask, and he hadn't said a word to her all day, but that was nothing unusual. It wasn't that she really expected much for her sixteenth birthday-- for any birthday, really. The way her family was, not expecting anything was the best way to avoid disappointment. But would a little peace be too much to ask for on her birthday? Just an hour of not having to do anything for anyone but herself?

She groaned and flopped onto her bed, closing her eyes momentarily. The darkness of the room was comforting, as was the silence-- at least it wouldn't ask anything of her, wouldn't expect anything of her... When had she turned into the fucking wonderchild here? Before Mom left, she'd been ignored, and now...

"I'm fucking tired of this," she muttered.

"Tired of what?"

Natalie sat up, startled by the question, and almost tumbled off the bed in the process. She turned around quickly to glower at her brother, who sat cross-legged at the head of her bed. She had somehow missed noticing him when she first walked in. "What the fuck? You couldn't at least let me know you were there before scaring the hell out of me?"

Gabriel shrugged. "Maybe you need the hell scared out of you every now and then. You've got enough of it in you."

Natalie narrowed her eyes at him. "Aren't you supposed to glow in the dark or something? Everyone says that's what ghosts do."

Gabriel only grinned, one of the few people who had never been in the least unnerved or put off by Natalie's hostility. "Happy birthday, by the way."

At that, Natalie rolled her eyes and fell back onto the bed, staring at the ceiling once more. "It isn't happy. It never is."

"Well, you didn't have to take it literally," Gabriel grumbled, putting on an exasperated tone she could tell he didn't particularly mean. "Sorry I didn't get you anything. Then again, you didn't get me anything for my sixteenth birthday, so I guess we're even."

"I know, it's just so hard to shop for the incorporeal," Natalie remarked sardonically. She twisted around a little to glance up at him for a moment, and then closed her eyes. "I suppose you've forgiven me?"

"Naturally. Would you care if I hadn't?"

"Not really," Natalie answered with a shrug. "I still say you owe me a present."

"Do I?" Gabriel's tone had gained that arch note of teasing that always slipped into his tone when he was feeling particularly mischievous, and Natalie automatically opened her eyes, suspicious.

She hadn't felt the bed move when Gabriel moved across the bed, heard no shift of cloth, but that didn't surprise her. There never was any sound when Gabriel moved, no movement of blankets or bedsprings, so when she opened her eyes he was suddenly there, directly in front of her, leaning down to her. His lips pressed against hers, and she'd have sworn she could feel it, pressure and warmth, impossible but somehow more real than anything else just then, more real than the room around her, the feeling of her heart jumping or the sudden rush of blood in her ears, just for a moment _real. _She could almost feel the faint curve of his lips as they pressed against hers, the self-confident smirk.

Natalie drew a breath and automatically reached up to him, to cup her hand around the back of his neck and pull him a little closer, deepen the kiss… Her hand touched nothing but air, went right through him, and almost instantly the feeling of his lips on hers vanished. Gabriel grimaced slightly and leaned back, looking as disappointed as Natalie felt, her face slightly flushed, aching for one more kiss, one more touch…

Gabriel's mouth slipped into a crooked smile, attempting some measure of humor though his own cheeks were as red as Natalie's in the darkness, his breathing coming in audible gasps, as if he were real. As if he needed to breathe. "Well," he murmured at last, still with that wry, good-humored, faintly pained smile, "I hope that's a good enough birthday present, little sister. It's all I could manage at the last minute."

Somehow Natalie could find no answer, any sarcastic response she might have made silenced by the lingering feeling of an imaginary kiss.


End file.
